Suspect found dead after four hour standoff in post office lobby

ENFIELD, N.C. (WITN) – After a four hour standoff at the Enfield Post Office, officers say the suspect was found dead inside.

Enfield Police Chief Tyree Davis says officers responded to the post office on South Dennis Street around 6:45 p.m. Saturday in reference to an armed robbery.

Davis says an elderly woman reported that a man tried to rob her while she was checking her mail in the post office lobby. While she was able to get away uninjured, she told officers the man shot at her multiple times.

When the first officer arrived on scene, Davis says the suspect shot at her from inside the post office lobby, hitting her patrol car with at least one bullet. At the same time, a citizen pulled up behind her and their car was also hit with a bullet.

After the officer called for additional assistance, approximately 75 law enforcement officers responded from the Enfield Police Department, the Halifax County Sheriff’s Office, the Nash County Sheriff’s Office, the Roanoke Rapids Police Department, the Scotland Neck Police Department, the North Carolina State Highway Patrol and the State Bureau of Investigation.

Among those who responded, there were two crisis negotiators, a state certified sniper, a special response team and a large armored vehicle.

Davis says the suspect continued to sporadically fire rounds towards the officers from inside the lobby while officers set up a perimeter outside.

After the suspect was ordered multiple times to come out and put his gun down, the sniper fired one shot into the lobby, hitting the suspect.

With the help of a drone, Davis says they were able to get a visual on where the suspect was located in the lobby and his condition.

Just before 11:00 p.m. the special response team went inside and discovered the suspect had died. The identity of the man will not be released until his family has been notified but Davis says he was an Enfield resident in his early sixties.